Partay
by CooperTrooperSG1
Summary: Set between 8&9. Atlantis characters appear too. Everyone goes to Gen. Hammond's retirement party. SJ big time, some ShWeir.


-1Title: Par-tay

Rating: T

Pairing: S/J, hints of Sheppard/Weir

Category: Humor, Romance, sort of Crossover with Atlantis

Setting: Between Seasons 8&9 of SG-1, after "The Seige, Part 3" of Atlantis.

Summary: Okay, so this is my first time ever to post a story here. I've done CSI ones and X-Files ones on other sites though. I wrote this right at the beginning of last season, right when Carter had come back to the SGC, but I was too nervous to post it before. It's about a party in Washington DC for General Hammond's retirement, that the people from Atlantis and SG-1 all attend. Thank you for reading, and I hope that you like it.

Par-tay

"What the hell could possibly be taking this long?" Jack O'Neill asked his companion.

Daniel Jackson, seated opposite his good friend and until-very-recently boss, plucked at a tiny little piece of lint on his jacket and said, "I dunno."

"Fat lot of help you are then," Jack grumbled, then whined, "I don't see why we have to go to this stupid gala party thing anyway."

"You don't think celebrating the career of one of your best friends, a man whom you call the greatest CO you could ever have, is worth celebrating?" Daniel asked.

"Ohforcryinoutloud, Daniel, of course I'm all for celebrating Hammond's retirement. But couldn't a nice bar-be-cue with just a few people get the job done just as well?"

"You're going to be working in Washington now, Jack, you've got to get used to this kind of thing. They'll use any excuse to throw a gala."

"Yeah, well..." Jack grumbled, looking down at his dress uniform with immense distaste, even though the tie was loosened and the jacket was draped over the back of the kitchen chair. "Go see if they're going to be ready any time this year."

"Why are you so eager to get going if you don't want to go in the first place?" Daniel asked, getting to his feet obediently nonetheless. He didn't answer to Jack anymore, but when he spoke in that tone of voice it was best to just do what he asked anyway.

Jack watched his friend's retreating back and looked around the living room of his new home. The furniture was all in place but there were still half-unpacked boxes everywhere. He went over to one of the bookshelves and started pulling books out of the nearest box, needing something to do while he waited for the rest of their party to get ready.

He frowned at the books he'd already placed on one shelf. Something wasn't right... oh yeah. He pulled them down and started alphabetizing them.

Daniel returned and said, "I'm supposed to tell you they'll be ready when they're ready, that was from Cassie, of course, and not to let you do anything that might wrinkle your uniform. That one was from Sam."

"Gee, thanks," Jack said sarcastically. "How did I possibly manage to get myself dressed every day before I lived with two women? What was going on in there anyway?"

"They really did look almost done," Daniel assured him. "Teal'c's doing Sam's makeup and Cassie was doing something to her hair. It's up in some thing with curly bits hanging down."

"Why is Teal'c..." Jack started to ask, then trailed off shaking his head. The man _did _have lots of experience with eye makeup, after all. And whatever had kept him so gold and shiny for the first six or seven years Jack had known him.

"Sam's just about as out of patience as you are, Jack, so be nice when you see her. She was growling at them both and threw a hair brush at me when I came in. She was trying to convince Cassie that her dress blues would be better."

"After they spent two straight days looking for a dress for this thing?" Jack asked.

Daniel shrugged. "I think Sam went along with it more to amuse Cassie than anything else. So... are you guys really going to... I mean, you're not going to hide that you're... I know we're all going together but you're not going to act like you're not there together, are you?"

"You know, for a linguist and a diplomat, sometimes you've got a bit of a problem spitting it out, Danny," Jack commented. "I don't know, Cassie and Sam figured that it might be easier to make the transition or whatever if she wasn't in her uniform... and it's black tie, dress blues optional as you know so it'll probably be about half and half... what's her dress look like?"

"I thought you weren't supposed to know."

"Cassie's got way too much power around this place," Jack grumbled. "That's only supposed to be bad luck before a wedding, you know, not a party."

"Oh, unclench yourself, Jack," Cassie called as she and Teal'c entered - Teal'c looking rather dashing in his tux, Jack had to admit. It was all black, as opposed to Daniel's traditional but still equally attractive tux. The only thing that made Jack slightly less grumpy about the fact that he had to wear his dress blues was the fact that Daniel and Teal'c had to wear tuxedos.

"Are we finally ready?" Jack asked in a falsely sweet voice.

"We?" Cassie countered.

"Well, in all the years I've known Carter she's never needed help getting dressed before... and it's never taken more than ten minutes for her to be geared up with a pack and a P-90 to boot, so..."

"Yeah, well, if she'd have had her way it would've been ten minutes tonight, too," Cassie grumbled, turning down the hallway and yelling, "SAM! YOU'RE MAKING EVERYONE LATE!"

"I'm changing into my uniform!" Sam's voice carried down the hallway.

"NO!" Cassie wailed, grabbing Teal'c's arm and trying to pull him back down the hallway. The sight of the tiny girl (Jack still couldn't call her a 'woman,' it might be sexist or ageist or whatever, but he just couldn't do it) trying to pull Teal'c _anywhere _was really funny. "Teal'c, you have to help me, we'll just grab her and throw her in the car."

"I would never do such a thing to Colonel Carter. I wish her to enjoy herself this evening - if she is uncomfortable in the dress you selected, then..."

"Jaaaaaaaack," Cassie pleaded. "Please just go in there and talk some sense into her."

"All right, fine, but if she starts chucking things at me..." Jack muttered, walking briskly down the hall.

He knocked once on the almost-shut door, opening it as he went. "It's just me, Cass wanted me to... wow."

Sam had the side zipper halfway down on her dress, and her shoes, judging by the haphazard way they were lying near the bed, had been kicked off already, but she still looked incredible. Her back was to him as she stood in front of the mirror, and although he hadn't seen the front of the dress yet, he already loved it. It was shiny (he was fairly certain it was satin, but he wasn't all that into fabric) and a rich, dark navy blue almost the exact shade of their dress blues.

That was nice and all, but nicer still was the fact that it showcased most of her back. More creamy white skin was exposed with that dress at once than he had seen in the first eight years of knowing her - well, apart from the thing on Hathor's fake SGC… and the time she drank that stuff on 595... Anyway. The dress. It was a good one. There was a low X of fabric right above the skirt part of the dress, at the small of her back. He could see the sides of the dress, barely, and could tell it had straps up top too, but he wasn't entirely sure how she planned on getting around in it tonight without it coming off. She'd probably be able to explain the physics of it if he asked, but at the moment he couldn't really think of anything to say beyond his initial 'wow.'

He finally tore his eyes off the back of her to meet her face in the mirror. She was watching him watch her, a pleased/amused/slightly embarrassed look on her face that she still always got whenever he blatantly stared.

"You look amazing... please don't change," he finally said.

She raised an eyebrow at him, and he noticed the makeup. He always liked her best fresh out of the tub, but that probably wouldn't have been an appropriate look for a dress like that. Between the color of the dress and whatever Teal'c had done to her eyes, they were now so blue that they almost didn't seem real. Impossibly huge and too blue to be real. He wasn't entirely sure if the pink in her cheeks was makeup or if she was still blushing from the way he was looking at her, but whichever it was he hoped it stayed there all night.

"At least let me see the rest first," he requested.

Sam zipped the dress back up and turned around, smoothing the front a bit and not quite meeting his eye. The front was better than the back. The top was one of those things – what did Cassie call it... cowl. It was cowly. Was that right? He didn't much care about the terminology at the moment. The thin straps holding it up were positioned perfectly, and the dress hugged her perfectly but didn't look tight at all. Like a second skin draped over her or something... it reminded him of satin sheets and he knew it would be torture watching her in it all night long, thinking about being in bed with her later that night.

The dress was simple, elegant, and looked absolutely gorgeous without even trying. "It's you," he said quietly, unable to keep his hands completely to himself. He settled for tracing the necklace she was wearing – one that had been her mother's, Jack knew. A small, understated sapphire and diamond choker that was absolutely perfect with the dress. Small and delicate.

"You look so perfect. You look unbelievable in your dress blues too but please wear this."

"Okay," she said quietly with a small smile.

She headed back for her shoes but he scooped them up first and guided her to the foot of the bed, marvelling at how warm the skin on her back was under his fingertips. "Why'd you want to change?"

"I don't know, I just... all the officers that will be there..."

"You couldn't decide whether you wanted to be a beautiful woman or a beautiful woman in uniform?" he guessed, crouching down in front of her and ignoring the twinge in his knee. He pulled her stocking-clad foot into his lap and squeezed it lightly before slipping her shoe on.

"Something like that," she said quietly.

"Sam," he said, suddenly serious, despite the fact that he was looking up at her with a shoe in one hand and a bare foot in the other.

"Hmm?"

"I didn't think it would work anyway, but... just so you know... if you wear that tonight there's not going to be a chance in hell that everyone we meet won't know about us now. It just won't work. I'm not that good of an actor. So make sure you're okay with that."

She only hesitated a moment before nodding. "I'm sure. You're not my commanding officer anymore, Jack, there's nothing anybody can do..."

"I know," he said quietly, slipping the other shoe on her foot – well, he learned one thing tonight – now he knew what people meant when they said 'Fuck me heels.' He got to his feet with a hand on her leg for leverage, and pulled her to hers.

They'd had this conversation dozens of times already, and she was completely right, of course. Nobody could do anything. But they could talk. And even an a priori whisper that there'd been something going on between them all along could be enough to keep her from getting promoted ever again.

"One more time," he requested, thumbs running over the backs of her fingers.

"I'm sure, Jack. It's time. It's way past time. We deserve this."

"You're wrong about that," he said matter-of-factly, kissing the hands he was holding.

"What do you mean?"

"I definitely don't deserve you."

"Jack," she sighed, kissing him suddenly, catching him by surprise. He smiled against her mouth and kissed her back, pulling her body against his with one hand at the small of her back, the other sliding up her neck towards her hair.

"Don't mess up the hair," she mumbled into his mouth. "Cass'll kill ya." He curled the hand around her neck instead and tilted her head back so he could reach her mouth better. With the shoes on she was barely an inch shorter than he was.

He completely forgot about the gala - George wouldn't mind if they skipped it... and as soon as they had to stop to breathe he was going to put all of his negotiating strategies into play to convince her that sending the rest of them ahead was an excellent idea.

He never got the chance. Cassie banged on the door loudly and called, "So help me, Jack, if you're both naked in there I'll kill you!"

"Cassandra Fraiser!" he yelled back at the door, turning back to her to grumble against her mouth, "I swear she has worse timing than Daniel and _she _does it on purpose…" More loud knocking only served to prove his point.

"Cassie..." Sam started. "Come on, let's go," she said with a resigned sigh, sliding her hands down his chest and releasing him reluctantly.

"Wait... I have an idea..."

"We have to go to this, Jack."

"George won't care..."

"We have to," she said simply.

He loosened his grip on her and took her hand instead, following her out the door. They rejoined the rest of their friends. Everyone oohed and ahhed over Sam for a bit – Jack guessed they'd given Cassie enough attention when he'd been otherwise occupied, so he didn't feel guilty that the only comment he had about her dress was that there needed to be a lot more of it.

He pulled on his jacket reluctantly and tightened his tie, grinning in surprise when he caught Sam giving him a remarkably similar look to the one he'd given her when he'd been studying her dress before.

Sam's breath caught when Jack buttoned up his jacket, like it was a conditioned response. She'd always loved him in dress blues, and tonight she could look at him all she wanted without worrying about who was watching her watch him.

"Guys, could you stop staring goofily at each other, at least until we get down to the car. The driver's waiting," Daniel said, interrupting their little lustful staring contest with an amused nudge to her shoulder to help jolt her out of it.

Sam gave him what she hoped was a scathing look, but Daniel had built up an immunity to her scathing looks over the years, and he merely winked at her and turned to offer Cassie his arm out the door. Teal'c followed them.

"Aren't you going to be cold?" Jack murmured in her ear as they left the house, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her in close for 'warmth,' although it was a mild DC night and not really cold at all. A bit cool, perhaps.

"You look sufficiently capable of keeping me warm, General," she said lightly with a smile, climbing into the car. He was right behind her.

Thankfully the limo was crowded and she was _forced _to cuddle into him closely. "Are we picking up the new kid at his hotel?" Jack asked Daniel, who shook his head.

"Cameron's meeting us there."

"Kay. Hey, kids, do me a favor... don't mention tonight that he's taking over SG-1. He still thinks you're all going to be there and that Carter's in charge..."

"Jack, that's terrible," Sam said, shocked.

"Hey, I couldn't break it to the kid over the phone... and I don't think tonight is the right time either, do you?"

"No," she admitted.

"It'll be so crowded we won't have to talk to him all night or anything - I doubt it will even come up," Daniel said hopefully.

"But if it does I'm not going to lie to him," Sam said firmly.

"Of course," Jack agreed, stroking her shoulder until he felt her shiver against him. "Same goes for us, you guys," he told the rest of the group. "I mean, we're not going to try to hide that we're, you know... together, but we're not going to be making any announcements about it either. If someone asks you directly though, don't lie about it."

Everyone agreed, although Cassie looked like she thought it was the dumbest idea she'd ever heard.

"Are you nervous about your speech, Jack?" Daniel asked in the car.

"No," Jack said casually, although Sam knew he was lying. He started playing with her fingers awfully fast and fiddling with the bracelet around her right wrist, that went with the necklace and earrings she was wearing. She squeezed his arm and rested her head on his shoulder.

It wasn't that he usually got nervous in front of people, although he did hate public speaking. It was just that he wanted so much to do a good job, give Hammond an adequate retirement speech, and felt like Daniel would have been a better choice. But most of the crowd was military, and it was much more appropriate for Jack to do it.

He slipped his arm around her, sliding her a little bit closer and sliding his hand down her bare arm, leaving a wake of gooseflesh after his hand. She marvelled at how quickly she'd become the target of his restless hands, and wondered what would have happened if he'd picked up her hand years ago in her lab instead of one of her 'doohickeys.'

Well, they wouldn't be here, probably. And right now she couldn't imagine anywhere else she'd rather be.

His hand now found her left one, lacing through her fingers. He squeezed lightly and stopped as his hand ran over the ring she was wearing – he was clearly surprised to find it there. While they weren't going to lie, they weren't planning on inviting questions either. And she could tell what he was thinking – wouldn't wearing a ring on her left hand sort of invite a few questions?

She lifted her head off his shoulder to speak privately into his ear. "Cass pointed out that it sort of goes with the rest of my jewellery, even though Mom's is sapphires with diamonds not the other way around. I thought I might be able to get away with it. Want me to take it off?"

He shook his head immediately.

She smiled, kissed his cheek, and rested her head on his shoulder again. She was already getting tired and they hadn't even been to the party yet... oh well. She had two weeks before she had to officially report to Area 51, and while they both had a lot of boring things to do and a lot of fun things to do in that time, there would be some time to rest in there somewhere.

He spent the rest of the ride to the ridiculously lavish hotel where this event was taking place playing with her rings, tracing the bigger, round stone in the middle and the two smaller, dark blue triangles on the sides. "Sam, how come you wanted to change, you look great," Daniel asked.

Sam shrugged. Cassie answered for her. "Same reason she wouldn't get that dress in pink – she wanted to blend in with everyone else. We finally compromised and I let her get it in the same color half the room will be wearing."

"You have _never _blended in with everyone else," Jack said seriously, speaking low and directly into her ear, but loud enough that everyone else in the car heard him anyway.

He pressed a firm kiss to her ear and tried to play with her hair again but Cassie said, "Don't even think about it, Jack!"

"I like it getting longer like this," he said by way of explanation, fiddling with one of the curls framing her face.

To keep the peace between Jack and Cassie, and to get the attention off of her hair, Sam tugged his hand away from her face and settled it in her lap instead, squeezing it with her smaller hand. He took the opportunity to flip his hand over, curling his hand around her leg through the thin fabric of the dress.

"Get a room," Daniel muttered.

"Yeah... I don't think they should be allowed out in public yet," Cassie declared with a snort as they neared the hotel, glaring at the two of them in a look that reminded everyone in the car of her mother.

"Jack should _never _have been allowed out in public," Daniel agreed.

Jack and Sam merely smiled patiently at them, which further reinforced their friends' opinions that they were now completely disgusting to be around, no matter how secretly thrilled all of them were on the inside that they were finally, officially 'Jack and Sam.'

"Tonight is going to be very interesting my friend," Daniel said as he and Teal'c became the first ones to get out of the car.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed, offering his arm to Cassandra. They all checked their clothes and each other's quickly and headed inside together.

Everyone's predictions had been fairly accurate. The ballroom was overly decorated, ridiculously fancy in Jack's opinion. The large crowd was a decent mix of Air Force officers, other high-ranking officers from other branches, and civilians. Many worked at the Pentagon, many were politicians, diplomats, senators... lots of them knew about the Stargate program but many were contacts of Hammond's from his work out of the Pentagon – the work Jack would be inheriting soon.

The President and Vice President were both there, so security was tight. The senior staff members from Atlantis were all there too, as well as the new Commander of the Daedelus, and the General that had already taken Jack's place at Stargate Command. Unfortunately he recognized many of the people there, and knew he'd be stuck 'making the rounds' all night.

But he'd promised to be on his best behavior tonight, since it was George's retirement party and all. The five of them made their way around the room in as tight a clump as they could form without being rude, but Jack knew they'd have to disperse eventually.

Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell was one of the first to find them. He greeted them all warmly in his impeccable dress blues, looking infinitely better than he had done the last time Jack had seen him. He tried to squash the little flares of some rather unattractive feelings as Mitchell looked at Sam with a bashfully appreciative gaze and mumbled, "You look really beautiful, Colonel Carter."

"Thank you, Cameron, you look good too. Much better than the last time we saw you."

"That's not saying very much though, is it?" Mitchell asked with a smirk – he was okay at making fun of himself, so he had that going for him.

Jack knew Cameron wasn't going to start hitting on Sam – for one thing he thought she was his new CO. But he still didn't really like the way he was looking at her – maybe she should have worn her dress blues after all. Then again, she'd draw attention in those too... he'd better just get used to it. Mitchell had actually been much more polite than Jack knew half the men in the room would be.

He glanced at Teal'c and Daniel and Teal'c nodded imperceptibly. Jack wanted to hug the man. They'd take turns shadowing her as much as possible all night. She'd hate it if she caught any of them hovering, but if they were low-key about it and took turns... they might get away with it, if they didn't try to push it.

He wasn't dumb – he knew she could kick anybody's ass in the room if she wanted or needed to. But if he was going to make it through the night without yelling at anybody or anything... well, she might just have to put up with him acting a bit chauvinistic tonight. He suspected she was already prepared for that (another advantage to being in love with the smartest person on the planet) because after she'd greeted Mitchell she'd moved a bit closer to Jack and taken his arm lightly again.

Jack wasn't sure whether or not she was trying to make some sort of statement to Mitchell, reassure Jack, or if she just wanted to have a hand on him in case he randomly decided to do something insane. Maybe it was a little bit of all three. "Wow, this is great. The original SG-1, all together..." Mitchell was saying. He stopped when he reached Cassie and looked a bit puzzled. "I don't know you, though."

Jack resisted the urge to throw his jacket over Cassie, figuring neither of the women he was with tonight would find that very acceptable behavior, and settled for dropping a hand on her shoulder and tugging her a bit closer to him. "This is my goddaughter, Mitchell."

_And she's only 20, _he wanted to add. The light squeeze on his other arm from Sam kept him from saying it.

"Oh, I should have known," Mitchell said quickly, shaking her hand enthusiastically. "I'm sorry... you're Cassandra Fraiser... of course... it's just the way General O'Neill's spoken about you, you always sound like a little girl, not..." He trailed off, seeming to realize whatever he said would only be digging himself into a hole with one or the other of them.

"Cassie, this is Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell," Sam put in, finishing off the introduction.

"Nice to meet you," Cassie said politely. "I've heard a lot about you – thanks for saving my family."

"Ah, no sweat. I was about to go get some punch, can I get anything for anybody else?"

Everyone else politely declined, but Cassie surprised them all by saying, "I'll go with you if you don't mind."

Jack refrained from grabbing onto the back of her dress to stop her from going with great difficulty. Sam's nails scratched his shoulder through his jacket lightly and he tried to relax. "I don't know about that guy..."

"He's the closest thing the SGC could find to you, now that Sheppard wants to stay in Atlantis indefinitely," Sam said mildly. Jack looked at her in surprise, wondering if all of that was true. "But none of them hold a candle to the original," she assured him sincerely.

"Oh brother," Daniel muttered. "I'm gonna go... find somewhere else to be."

"I will join you," Teal'c agreed, quickly leaving them alone.

Jack knew she was trying to butter him up with the attention so he'd relax and enjoy the party a little bit. He knew, but he didn't care. It was working. Hell, she was flirting with him in public. Touching his arm and everything. For them, that was practically like having 'caught in the act' pictures leaking out over the internet or something. He tried not to look too visibly disappointed when he noticed some of the scientists from '51 approaching them.

"This is the part where I go find Hammond and meet up with you later," he said quietly, squeezing her hand. She smiled and tugged his hand, impulsively bringing him back to her. "What?" he asked with a small expectant smile.

She grinned at him and again he wondered how it was possible for her eyes to look _that _bright. "You're the best looking man in the room - you'll be easy to find." She winked. Actually winked at him in public.

"You're evil," he muttered affectionately. "Pure evil."

Jack let her be absorbed by all the scientists, who were all managing to look rather geeky even in their tuxedos, and looked round the room for Teal'c and Daniel. He quickly found them talking to Sheppard and McKay.

Jack had been meaning to warn Sheppard about Daniel's tendency to find himself in trouble, since he'd somehow let his two scientists talk him into signing the papers for Daniel to go with them on the Daedelus in a few weeks. However, he decided that it might not be the best idea to have that conversation right in front of Daniel.

Still, he figured he should say hi to the Atlantis crew. They were clearly all on that post-we-just-saved-our-own-asses high after the whole defeating the Wraith thing. He grabbed himself something to drink and joined them, surprised to see Sheppard in a tux rather than his dress blues.

It was perfectly acceptable, of course, it just surprised him that Sheppard, whom he really didn't know all that well but sort of felt like he did, would choose the monkey suit over the dress blues. "Hey, kids," he said, shaking Sheppard's hand.

"General."

"Lieutenant Colonel. Congratulations."

"Thank you, sir. Congratulations on your promotion too. Head of Homeworld Security… quite a title."

"Yeah, well... falling up and all that. Mackey," Jack said, nodding at McKay.

He did know the guy's name. He also knew Sam hated the guy. And it took a lot to get Sam Carter to hate you. Jack hated him by extension, although he did think it was quite funny when Sam told him how she'd convinced him that women would find him more attractive the more obnoxious he was. She said she was doing women everywhere a favor. Jack agreed wholeheartedly.

"McKay, actually," the scientist corrected, looking and sounding like he thought he was the smartest person in the universe.

Jack was used to working with non-military personnel, of course, and while he didn't demand respect, he was used to getting it anyway, even from the non-enlisted. McKay didn't look the least bit concerned that he was speaking to the guy who was now in a position to approve or not approve some of his more outrageous supply requests for the return trip to Atlantis.

"Good to be home, I guess?" Jack asked them both, careful not to bring up the A-word since there were many people in the room who knew nothing about the Stargate program at all, much less the Atlantis expedition.

"I guess," Sheppard echoed.

Jack saw his eyes wandering round the room - the younger man was clearly looking for somebody. Cassie came over and grabbed Teal'c and Daniel's arms. "I found Uncle George, come on," she encouraged, trying to get them moving. For a second, she was the excitable child she'd been quite a few years ago, and Jack felt suddenly old.

"Okay, okay," Daniel was saying.

"Jack?" Cassie asked hopefully.

"I'll catch up with you later," Jack said.

Cassie shot him a confused look but was happy to have Daniel and Teal'c at her disposal. "That must be Dr. Fraiser's daughter," Sheppard said matter-of-factly. Jack looked at him, mildly surprised, and nodded. McKay mumbled something about checking the buffet for citrus and left them alone. "Be careful, Rodney," Sheppard called after him sarcastically.

The two soldiers were left alone. They stood watching the crowd and sipping their beers. "I hate these things," Sheppard finally said.

"Hey at least you get to go home soon. I have to _live _here now."

"Good point," Sheppard agreed absently.

Jack followed the younger man's eye line and spotted Dr. Weir talking to somebody he didn't know. He wasn't the best lip-reader, but he was fairly certain she wasn't speaking English. Jack looked back at Sheppard and suddenly _got _it, in a way that even Daniel would have been proud of.

"So..." he asked casually. "In love with your boss yet?"

John Sheppard coughed and choked a bit on his mouthful of beer and looked like he didn't know what to say - which Jack suspected didn't happen to the man very often.

Jack waved his hand. "Didn't mean anything by it. As far as I'm concerned... you guys are so far away it would be ridiculous to try to impose the same regs... not to mention cruel. She's not military anyway."

"I really don't feel comfortable talking about this."

"Hey, I'm not trying to play matchmaker here. Just offering a friendly piece of advice if you're interested."

"Okay," John said hesitantly.

"Wait. Wait as long as you can even if you think it might kill you. Then when it finally happens it'll be..." he tried to think of a word that was appropriate but didn't make him sound like some lovesick teenager or something. "Perfect," he finally said.

John nodded and was about to say something else when Sam joined them, smiling at them both. "Colonel Sheppard, congratulations on your promotion."

"Hi, Colonel Carter. Thanks. You look nice."

"So do you. It's so good to see all of you here... we were worried about you for a long time." She spoke carefully in case anyone overheard.

"Sorry about that," Sheppard said jovially, looking at the two of them casually. He had assumed he knew what O'Neill was alluding to with all that 'wait as long as you can' stuff - now he was dead certain he had been right. "Be sure to let me know if McKay starts to bother you tonight."

"So far I haven't run into him, but I did speak to Dr. Weir briefly - she wanted to thank me for my advice about the hair."

"You, Doctor-Lieutenant-Colonel Samantha Carter have been exchanging hair tips? With another woman?" Jack asked incredulously.

She gave him a look and said, "I merely suggested Dr. Weir think about going back to her natural color before leaving for Atlantis. In addition to having serious issues with roots and whatever being stuck out there... well, you know McKay has a creepy thing for..."

"Blondes," Sheppard finished, nodding in understanding. "Especially ones that could beat the crap out of him... although I suspect that's a large number of the population." He too thought McKay's weird fixation with Colonel Carter was pretty creepy.

Looking at General O'Neill thoughtfully, he suddenly got an idea. Some time tonight, he had to find a way to get Rodney and Colonel Carter alone for a bit...

Both officers were laughing at what he had said. "On that note... I'd better catch up to him. Elizabeth's making me baby-sit him tonight. I told her if he drinks I'm charging extra. It was nice to see you both."

"So," Jack said when they were alone. "You talked to Weir?"

"Yeah," Sam said. Despite what John had said when he left them alone, he headed for Elizabeth, not McKay. Watching them talk from halfway across the room, Sam commented, "She's in love with him."

"Good, cuz so's he. Wine?" he steered her over to the nearest bar.

"Trying to get me drunk, General?"

"Definitely not," he said indignantly. "I can barely keep my hands off you as is, and you get _very _affectionate when you're drunk. I don't think George would be too happy if he had to throw us out of his party."

"Probably not," Sam agreed. "Although Daniel and Teal'c would think it was hilarious."

"That dress just doesn't look like it goes with beer," he tried to explain as he handed her a glass of wine.

Cassie came back over to them shortly after they got their drinks, feeling much more comfortable with them as she only knew a few people in the room, and didn't want to inhibit Daniel's ability to socialize. "So, what'd you think of the new guy?" Jack asked her. Cassie was the best judge of character he'd ever met.

"He's a good guy," she said with a shrug. "Not as funny as he thinks he is though."

"Well, not everyone can be as funny as me," Jack said with a dramatic sigh.

Sam laughed into her wine glass. Cassie rolled her eyes. "Right, Jack. Just keep telling yourself that, and try to remember the difference between being laughed _with _and _at._"

"Hey. Watch those prepositions, young lady," he said in a falsely stern tone of voice that just made both women laugh.

Somebody announced that dinner was about to be served, so they all moved to the tables and found their seats. Hammond, the President, the Chief of Staff, and some other guys Jack didn't know were at Table 1, leaving good old SG-1, plus Cassie and the new guy to Table 2.

It was slightly awkward, as Jack was by this point used to not hiding their relationship around most of the other people at the table - all of whom were incidentally sleeping in their house right now anyway. But Mitchell... they weren't too sure about him yet.

If the guy wasn't as dumb as a rock he'd be able to tell that most former CO's did not sit quite that close to their former 2IC's, and did not spend half the meal touching their bare backs, shoulders, arms, neck... when he got to the neck she gave him the 'please stop it' look and he had no choice but to comply.

The food was good, of course, but Jack really didn't know what it was. Maybe that was for the best. If it was a baby cow or something equally adorable and sad, he might not have been able to polish off his and half of Sam's as well. Determined to prove that he was _not _nervous about his speech and was just as laid back and cool as always, he ate. A lot.

Cassie, it turned out, had a lot to talk about with Mitchell, which was fine with Jack as it kept the attention off himself and Sam. He could usually read her pretty well, but by the end of dinner he wasn't sure if she wanted to slug him or jump him for the way he was semi-discreetly pushing all her buttons. She seemed to be avoiding looking at him, and whenever she did she looked really excited. Almost like she had a secret she was dying to tell him.

After dessert was served, Jack started getting nervous. He had to make his speech next. "O'Neill, I have heard if you imagine the audience in their underwear you will not be nervous," Teal'c offered quietly.

Unfortunately, at that moment, Sam leaned in from his other side to hear what they were talking about, giving Jack enough of a view down the front of her dress to tell that _she _certainly wasn't wearing underwear at all. At least not a bra. Not that he'd thought she _was_ in that dress, but still... the confirmation came at a most inconvenient time.

Imagining the aging bigwigs of DC in their underwear... well, that was more unnerving than calming. But all Teal'c's suggestion had made him do was imagine Sam in her underwear, and now he couldn't remember what he was supposed to say at all. Something about Hammond, probably. Probably not a discourse about his former 2IC's amazing breasts.

"You're going to be fine, Jack," she said quietly. "Just talk to General Hammond. Pretend we're at your old house and had everyone over for a bar-be-cue, like you wanted. You're on the patio with him, drinking beer... and in some momentary lapse of sanity you decide to tell him how you really feel about him."

He chuckled and smiled. "I can do that. Thanks."

"You're welcome." She kissed him on the cheek. In a room full of people. True, most of them were still focused on their own desserts. But surely _someone _had been glancing their way. And she did it anyway. He knew she meant it to be encouraging and comforting. But all her hard work at psyching him up for his speech was effectively undone with the little kiss.

He swallowed and fiddled with his tie, wanting desperately to loosen it. The President went up to the podium. He spoke about why they were there, to celebrate the career of one of the best men he knew...

Jack tuned him out. The president had all kinds of speech writers. It wasn't fair. Although Jack had Daniel... but when he'd tried to enlist Daniel's help he'd wound up with something that just didn't sound like him, and he knew George would be able to tell, and he didn't want that.

As the President finished and shook George's hand and everyone applauded, Jack took a huge swallow of water, squeezed Sam's hand, and looked round the table. "Well... here goes nothing."

He followed the President and waited for his applause to die down. "As some of you may already know, speechmaking isn't my favorite thing in the world. Mainly because I'm not that good at it. Those of you who don't know that already... well, when I'm done talking, you will." Lots of people laughed, which he found encouraging. "I wish I was better at this, today, because I would like to be able to tell you all how much respect and admiration I have for Major General George Hammond. He had the misfortune of being my CO for several years, but I was lucky enough to work for one of the best men I've ever known. He is the definition of integrity, and I am certain that I would not be where I am today if I hadn't had him for an example. I'm lucky to know him, lucky to have worked with and for him, and lucky to be able to call him a friend. He will be greatly missed, but if anyone deserves a happy retirement, finally... even at the expense of my own... it's him."

Everyone clapped and there were several chuckles, and Hammond came and shook his hand. "Thanks, Jack," he said quietly.

Jack turned to go but Hammond kept him there, speaking into the microphone. "Not so fast, O'Neill." Jack hesitated next to him, wondering why he wasn't being allowed to scamper back to his seat and be rewarded for doing such a good job with the rest of Cassie's cake… if Teal'c hadn't already gotten to it, of course…

Hammond was addressing the room, but still holding Jack's hand and arm in a shake/clasp that told O'Neill he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, at least not until Hammond said whatever it was he wanted to say. "Thank you all for coming tonight. I am honored and truly touched by your presence, all of you, and everything that was just said of me I wish back on the men who said it. In that vein, I have one more piece of business to take care of before I officially retire - as Jack said we've worked together for a long time and unfortunately I seem to have picked up a few of his bad habits, like turning in paperwork just in the nick of time... But this one is important, so all joking aside people. Brigadier General Jack O'Neill is hereby and immediately promoted to Major General Jack O'Neill..."

Jack looked at him in surprise and his head snapped involuntarily over to his table, where everyone was grinning, and clearly already knew this was going to happen. He realized that was why Sam had insisted on Cassie coming, and then realized Hammond was getting ready to pin his new stars on, and turned his attention back to him.

When he had taken the oath, Hammond said some other stuff to the crowd, then left Jack to it to say something else. Still more than a little bit stunned, he scanned the crowd briefly but quickly settled his eyes on Sam. She looked so proud of him that he was suddenly proud of himself too, though still not nearly as much as the rest of them were.

He discreetly touched the inside of his jacket, where there was a pocket. She knew what was in the pocket, and she smiled hugely and twisted her hands in her lap. Realizing it wouldn't do to stand in front of all these people and just look at her, he finally said, "I'm... stunned. Obviously. And to the people who conspired to keep me in the dark... and you know who you are..." He looked at all the people at his table, who smiled good-naturedly while everyone laughed. "I would like to promise some horrible revenge for taking me by surprise on this one. But the truth is, those are the same people responsible for me being here. For advancing past Colonel, first of all, but more importantly, for being here at all. As all of you know, whether it's because you're a part of a chain of command or you've got a family - you're nothing without your team. I've just been lucky enough to have the best support system, team, and family anybody could ask for... and even luckier that they happen to all be the same people. Even though we don't work together anymore..." his eyes got stuck on Sam and refused to move. "We're still closer than we've ever been."

He felt like he was getting a bit off-track so he forced himself to change directions, turning back to Hammond with a classic O'Neill smile. "So if you think retiring is going to keep me from inviting you to go fishing, George, you were mistaken. You can run, but you can't hide."

Everyone laughed, so he took that as a good place to stop. He said goodnight and went back to his table. Everyone stood up when he came back, and he hugged them all.

"I knew you were hiding something," he said quietly to Sam once they had all sat back down. She was giving him a look he usually only saw in the bedroom... or right before they went to the bedroom... or right before they decided they couldn't make it to the bedroom.

She stared at him for several moments and then said, "I'm going to go to the bathroom." She got up abruptly and left.

Jack watched her go, confused, and looked to Cassie for an explanation. "Oh for crying out loud, Jack, can you really be that dumb? Give her a couple more seconds and then go out there too... it's off the lobby."

"Wh..." Jack started, then said, "OH!"

Daniel rolled his eyes and Teal'c started in on his second plate of dessert. "Where'd Mitchell go?" Jack asked, wondering how long he'd been gone from the table. He knew he hadn't hugged the man when he came back from his speech - that would just have been too weird - but he didn't remember the last time he'd seen him.

"He found someone from his old base, I think. He's trying to find Landry, wants to introduce himself."

"Hank probably just left," Jack said. "He was only gonna stay till after Hammond's speech."

"Why?" Daniel asked.

"He wasn't very amused with my little joke," Jack said with a shrug.

"What joke would that be, O'Neill?"

"Not telling him or his daughter that they're both going to be working at the S...same base," Jack said casually.

"And I take it they weren't amused?"

"Well... judging by the glare Dr. Lam was shooting me from across the room earlier, she's not. And Hank wasn't either. I thought it might give them a chance to repair some bridges... plus she was the only candidate that could even hold a candle to the Doc. Now, are you done with the questions? Because I've got somewhere better to be."

Jack got up quickly and started making his way through the crowd out of the room.

"Well, one thing's for sure," Daniel commented as they watched their friend leave. "He didn't get that extra star for manners."

Jack wandered down the lobby looking for the restrooms. They were in a corridor off the right... he rounded the corner and almost plowed right into Sam, who was trying to look out into the lobby again. "Daniel wouldn't shut up..." he started to explain.

She wasn't interested in what he had to say, apparently. She launched herself into his arms and started giving him a free dental check-up. Suddenly feeling like a naughty twelve year old boy at a school dance, he pressed her up against the wall and quickly decided this was the best corridor in the world as he returned the hungry kisses. She still tasted like the chocolate dessert she'd picked at, and the smooth dress fabric felt unbelievable against his hands and her skin.

"Someone could..." he tried to remind her.

"Don't care."

Yeah, he groaned. So what? This was rapidly turning into one of the best nights of his life.

When they slowed down to breathe, he said, "I wanted... to say more..."

"I loved what you said."

"I wanted to say your name and..."

"Doesn't matter. Besides, as Cassie said while you were up there, most of the people there can probably put two and two together."

"Still... hey. You could have warned me," he remembered suddenly.

"You've surprised me with not one but TWO promotions over the years, Jack O'Neill..." she reminded him.

"Oh yeah," he remembered. Sufficiently oxygenated once more, he kissed her again, proud of himself for keeping it less 'I'm trying to eat your face' and more 'I want to crawl inside you.' Yeah, there was a subtle difference.

"So," she said against his mouth. "You didn't give me a chance to officially say it yet. Congratulations, Major General Jack O'Neill."

He liked the way it felt when she talked right into his mouth, so it was a good thing their titles were so long. "Thank you, Doctor-slash-Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter," he replied, pressing her into the wall more tightly and kissing her again.

They'd been together for practically every second of every day for the past month, kissed each other who knows how many times, but he could still happily kiss her for hours at a time. The joke that they were making up for eight years had worn off a week ago - as Cassie had informed them amongst gagging noises after she'd interrupted an impromptu kiss over a pan of burning scrambled eggs the other morning. The simple truth was that they just liked to kiss. So it was very reluctantly that he separated their mouths now, turning his head sideways to listen when he heard what sounded like quite a few people approaching in the lobby. Anybody walking by the corridor would see them. Since all of his senses had been full of Sam, he didn't even recognize the sound until it was upon them, and an entourage of Secret Service agents surrounding the President of the United States all stopped ten feet away from them and stared.

Trying to look casual despite the fact that he had his former 2IC pressed up against a wall in a semi-public place, Jack cleared his throat and said, "Good evening Mr. President." With minimal squeaking, he noted proudly.

"Apparently it's a very good evening for you too, Jack," the President said with a chuckle.

Jack had always liked that guy. He was friends with Hammond after all...

"Yes, sir," Jack responded.

"They've started dancing inside, which makes these security guys go nuts," he said, indicating at the six MIB looking guys standing behind him. "So I'm out of here. Congratulations, Jack. On… everything."

"T...thank you, sir."

"Colonel Carter, always a pleasure to see you. You look lovely tonight, by the way. Carry on." He waved a hand and continued walking, chuckling to himself.

"That was..." Sam started when she was finally able to speak.

"Cool?" Jack supplied, turning to her with a smirk. Her face was bright pink.

"Sure. I guess we can use your word. I had a few others in mind."

Despite the President's permission that they could carry on, the moment had definitely passed. That was okay. Jack suddenly thought of something and asked, "Do I have lipstick all over my face?"

"No... it was all gone from dinner anyway," she assured him. "I'm gonna go... freshen up." She nodded at the women's restroom.

"Oh. Right. Yeah."

She reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a tube of lipstick, winked, and said, "Thanks."

"Hey, how'd that get in there?" he called after her as she pushed open the door to the ladies'.

"I needed some place to put it," she called back. "And I didn't think you'd voluntarily carry it around."

Still trying to figure out if she'd slipped it in there in the limo, at home, or some other less interesting time, like when his jacket hadn't been on his body, he was lost in his musings, leaning back against the wall, when Atlantis's intrepid leader, Dr. Weir, walked purposefully down the corridor, managing a brisk pace even in ridiculous strappy and pointy shoes.

"General," she said, stopping short in surprise and smiling at him. "Congratulations. It's good to see you."

"Likewise, Dr. Weir. Thank you. You look nice." She did look nice, in a long black dress, but before he started living with Cassie part of the time he never would have remembered to say it out loud.

"Thank you. So do you. Are you... avoiding the dancing or lurking outside the women's restroom for another reason?"

Sam came out then, all 'freshened-up,' lipstick back on, hair and dress neatly back in place.

"Of course," Weir finished, smiling and answering her own unasked question.

The women exchanged smiles and brief hellos, but they'd already spoken earlier and Dr. Weir had actually needed the facilities, so they quickly said goodbye and she slipped into the restroom.

Once she was gone, Jack held out his hand, palm flat up. Sam looked puzzled for a moment, then handed him the lipstick. He tucked it back into his pocket and they went back to the party. "If you mention to Daniel or Teal'c that I'm carrying lipstick on my person, I may have to subject you to another Simpsons marathon," he said quietly as they entered the ball room once more.

"No need to threaten me with torture, Jack, your secret's safe with me," she replied, wondering how long it would take him to figure out that she only _pretended _not to like his favorite show. She wasn't as crazy about it as he was, but she did find it amusing.

Everyone was dancing when they went back inside. Even Teal'c. Jack hated dancing. Well, that wasn't entirely true. He hated it as a social... thing. He liked dancing with Sam just fine. But he didn't really want to dance with anybody else, and he remembered what had happened at the last DC thing he'd been to with her - she had still been a Captain then.

True, many more interesting things had eventually happened at that party - he'd met both an informant who ended up dead, and Jacob Carter, who sent Sam up to her room crying eventually when he told her he had cancer... but before that, Jack had another mini-revelation. Take Sam to a room full of career military men and they'd all take full advantage of the rare opportunity to dance with a woman who was not only a brilliant astrophysicist and excellent officer, but gorgeous on top of that... Add in that lots of them knew her father, and she had been dancing all night long, too polite to say no. Tonight was probably going to be a repeat of that, even more so now that she was well-known in various circles for her own reputation rather than just as "General Carter's pretty daughter."

Sam headed back to their table and didn't ask him to dance with her, but he knew she wanted to. He felt like being very stubborn and childish and insisting that since _he_ had just been surprise-promoted it was now kind of _his _party too, and he should get all the little spots on her dance card, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. He had promised to play nice. So, he supposed he could settle for first, last, and as many as he could grab in between.

They danced twice, actually, and he remembered to keep his hands in appropriate places. More or less, anyway. Most of the time, at least. He was pretty sure nobody noticed. Then he had to turn her over to Hammond, who had been dancing with Cassie. He danced with Cassie once and then decided he'd had enough for a while, when he spotted Sam across the floor with Daniel. Cassie let him go and went after Teal'c, and Jack decided it was time for another beer.

And so, the night wore on. Teal'c joined him shortly after dancing with Cassie, and they stood near the bar, watching the crowd. Jack nudged Teal'c and directed his attention to Sheppard, who was avoiding dancing as much as possible too, but looking most unhappy at the sight of Daniel and Weir taking a turn around the floor.

Jack went from mildly irritated at the way Sam was being monopolized to becoming concerned that she was going to be completely exhausted and maybe a little dehydrated before the night was over.

"O'Neill, why do you keep touching your chest?" Teal'c asked.

"Huh?"

"You appear to be silently saying the pledge of allegiance."

"Oh... my pocket... I've got my… but she's..."

"I do not believe she would mind," Teal'c said simply. "I am going back to the table to speak with Cassandra and Daniel Jackson."

Jack wasn't entirely sure how Teal'c knew what he had been talking about - he hadn't really given him an answer. But he decided to go with it. She _was_ wearing hers, after all. He glanced around once, slipped his ring out of his pocket, and put it on. He felt better.

John Sheppard noticed O'Neill standing alone by the bar, saw Rodney finally gearing up the nerve to ask Carter to dance (he wasn't shy and had no interpersonal skills, but he did know he was a terrible dancer), and saw the perfect opportunity for his little plan. Hey, these things were boring. Sometimes you had to make your own fun. But he needed a little help. He quickly located Elizabeth (he'd known where she was all night, so it wasn't hard) and pulled her away from the group of diplomats she was speaking with.

"John, what..."

"I need a favor. Make sure McKay is over by the punch bowl when the next song ends."

"What are you..."

"It'll explain itself, there's no time. Please?" He gave her the puppy-dog eyes and she narrowed her eyes and relented.

"Fine."

"Thank you." He squeezed her bare forearms quickly and hurried off.

As the song ended, he approached Colonel Carter quickly, knowing he was cutting off some other guy but not really caring. "Colonel Carter, may I have the pleasure?"

Sam was surprised - she had barely met Sheppard before he left for Atlantis, and he obviously had a thing for Dr. Weir, but she nodded. He had a thing for Weir, and she figured he knew about her and Jack, so dancing with him wouldn't be as uncomfortable as some of the other men there that night.

"Are you ready to get back to... home?" she asked as they started dancing.

"Yeah... I mean coming back to visit has been great and we obviously needed to, but..."

"I'm glad you like it there. J-General O'Neill implied that he had to sort of bully you into going."

"Actually, it was more like a dare," Sheppard answered, steering her closer to the punch bowl, where Rodney and Elizabeth were now talking.

Sam laughed and said, "That sounds about right. Er... Colonel Sheppard?"

"John's fine."

"John. Maybe this is a personal question but... how come you're not in your dress blues?" Sam asked innocently. She'd already figured out the answer. Weir got enough of military men, and as Atlantis's military commander, surely Sheppard had been forced into conflict with her several times already. And Weir was sort of quasi-anti-military, or something. Anti-weapons, at the very least; Sam didn't know her all that well, honestly. Regardless, Sheppard was a smart man, and he'd probably figured she'd be more impressed with him in a tux than his dress blues.

"Well, you know, the ladies like it," Sheppard finally replied flippantly, eyes darting over to the punch bowl. Sam had a fairly good guess as to who was standing next to the punch bowl.

"Uh-huh, I'm sure they do," she answered. "Look... John. I know I don't really know you or anything, so this probably is going to seem way out of the blue and completely ridiculous, but..."

"Go on, say it."

"Wait," Sam said seriously.

The right side of Sheppard's mouth curled up in a half-smile and he said, "Somebody else already gave me that advice tonight, Colonel. I'm beginning to think he might have been onto something."

"Oh," Sam reddened slightly. The tone of Sheppard's voice didn't exactly leave the identity of 'he' up for question.

"And... as I told your J-General... thanks." He couldn't help mocking the way she was editing the name.

"You're kind of a smart-ass, you know," Sam said mildly as the song ended.

"Thank you," Sheppard replied as they stopped several feet from the punch bowl. "Oh, Elizabeth! Rodney! Fancy running into you here!"

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him while he nudged a somewhat-reluctant looking Colonel Carter over to them, although she was wearing a lovely false smile. "Dr. Weir, nice to see you again," she offered as Sheppard started getting punch for both of them.

"Likewise, Colonel."

The next song began and John said, "Oh, I love this song. Come on, Elizabeth." Without really waiting for an answer, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to the dance floor, leaving McKay and Sam alone.

"Colonel Carter. You look... sexy as ever," McKay said. Apparently the months on Atlantis had done the impossible - made the man even _more _falsely self-confident than he had already been.

Sam smiled absently and looked around for Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, Cassie... or anybody. Sighing, she turned back to him. "How've you been, McKay?"

He started going on and on about how the city would never have survived without him... Sam tuned him out.

"John, is there something you'd like to tell me?" Elizabeth asked as they danced. John was keeping them within earshot of McKay and Sam.

"Oh! Yeah... you look good, Elizabeth. Really... pretty."

Smiling and flushing slightly, she said, "Thanks, John, but that wasn't really what I was talking about... I never realized you hated Colonel Carter so much, leaving her to Rodney like that. She seems lovely to me."

"I don't hate her... but I'm not above using her to toy with Rodney for my own entertainment."

"What?" Elizabeth asked, still not getting what she was helping John get away with.

"Just wait for it."

McKay finally had to stop talking about himself to catch his breath. Sam took the opportunity to cut in with, "Well, it's been great catching up with you, but..."

"No, no no, wait. I haven't finished telling you about how much better our gate is than yours... and I'm going to be in town until the Daedelus leaves so I was wondering if you wanted to get together somewhere without the whole 'security risk' thing, and I could give you some pointers on increasing efficiency on your way-less-cool gate..."

Sam assumed that was his own, twisted McKay way of asking her out and decided she really needed to get away from this guy, preferably several minutes ago. She found herself having to resist the childish urge to see if Jack could have Sheppard's promotion rescinded for this little stunt. Okay, she understood that he wanted to dance with Weir, but did he have to trade her off to do it?

"Hey, I've been looking for you," a low voice said next to her ear.

She sighed in relief and smiled at him. "You found me."

Jack thought the tone of her 'you found me' would have been more appropriate with a 'what took you so long.' He nodded at McKay and said, "Hey, McFly."

"McKay," Rodney corrected.

Nearby, John snorted, which made Elizabeth hit him on the shoulder lightly. "They'll hear you."

"McFly... that's a good one. I'll have to remember it. He hates that movie..."

"You are so cruel," she chastised mildly.

"Oh come on. He doesn't have _real _feelings for her, just dirty lustful thoughts..."

"Maybe he has both," Elizabeth argued, although privately she doubted it.

"Shh... watch."

Sam fully realized she was about to be pushing her own parameters set for the evening but she didn't care. McKay deserved it. Especially after that weird message he'd sent with the data from Atlantis. That had by far been the creepiest thing ever. She set her glass of punch down on the table and, in a quiet, private voice that she made sure McKay could 'overhear,' asked Jack, "Are you ready to go home?"

A brief flash of surprise crossed his face and he understood what she was doing, and was glad to play along. It was what he'd been hoping for when he came over to 'rescue' her, after all. "Soon," he said, slipping his arm around her waist and tugging her closer to him. "Dance with me one more time?"

"Of course. Then we need to say goodbye to General Hammond."

"He's told you to call him George about a million times," Jack reminded her.

"Yeah, and how many times did you tell me to call you 'Jack?'" she asked lightly.

"That's different," he grumbled, tugging her towards the dance floor. "Later, McFly."

"Sorry," Sam called off-handedly in a tone that completely suggested the opposite, as she more-than-willingly let herself be 'dragged' away. "Bye, McKay, have a safe trip home."

John was laughing so hard, and trying to be quiet about it, that he hid his face in the nearest thing he could find. That turned out to be Elizabeth's shoulder, and when he realized what he was doing (and how normal it seemed) he quickly straightened up and checked her face, but she didn't look mad. Surprised, yes, but not mad. All she said was, "You are cruel. Look at poor Rodney."

He glanced over at the guy, who looked confused, like he was still trying to figure out what just happened. "I know he's a genius and all, but when it comes to other living things... he's a complete moron," John said quietly.

Then, Rodney said, "What just hap… wait… aww... no! _That _guy?" He looked around for someone to agree with him, but nobody was there, of course. The only people within earshot were John and Elizabeth, who were pretending not to notice him.

Jack and Sam passed the dancing Atlantis leaders and stopped briefly as Sam suddenly realized what John had _actually _been up to.

"Nice one, Sheppard," she complimented.

"Thank you, ma'am," he drawled, looking very pleased with himself.

"Enjoy the rest of your night," Sam said, smiling warmly at both of them.

They all said goodnight, and Jack called, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" as Sam led him back towards the middle of the dance floor.

Noticing how Elizabeth's cheeks turned faintly pink and John's ears (rather pointy ears, she noticed) reddened, Sam said mildly, "Was that necessary? You embarrassed them."

"And that, my dear, is why it was necessary," he smirked, closing the remaining little bit of space between them as the song changed to a much slower one.

"Hammond's at our table with the guys," Jack said as they finished dancing.

"Where's Cass?" Sam asked, realizing she hadn't seen her goddaughter in a while and that she wasn't at the table with Daniel and Teal'c.

"Not sure. Teal'c will know."

"You're not tag-team chaperoning her, are you?"

"Maybe."

"You weren't doing the same thing to me too, were you?" she asked suspiciously.

"Maybe," he repeated ruefully. She rolled her eyes as they got to their table. Hammond got to his feet to greet them, smiling at them both.

Jack let go of Sam's hand but still stood much too closely behind her to be normal. They hadn't 'told' George officially, but they assumed he had a pretty good idea...

They chatted with him for a few moments, and then he surprised them by saying, "You've obviously decided not to hide your relationship, and I'm happy for you."

"Th-thanks," Sam said, feeling a bit like she was talking to her father, or an uncle or something. She suddenly felt like they should have asked for his approval, even though he hadn't been their CO anymore at the time…

"You know it's perfectly acceptable now, but I'm a little concerned about your professional reputations... which, unfortunately, do still carry a lot of weight around this town."

"We thought of that, sir, but..." Sam started hesitantly.

"I just have one suggestion... don't do anything stupid."

Jack couldn't help it. "Me, sir?"

"Yeah, Jack, you... I mean, just take things slow... wait a while... don't do anything crazy like run off and get married right away or anything like..." Hammond trailed off, looking at the two officers he knew so well _very_ carefully. They had their 'No, of course we're not leaving anything out of our reports, General' faces on. The ones he had seen far too many times over the years, after things like time dilations, memory stamps, alien viruses… "You did it already," he stated.

"How did you…?" Sam started incredulously.

"I've seen those guilty faces for years, Colonel, give me some credit. Well... congratulations, then. When did you do this incredibly foolish thing?"

Jack slipped his left hand out of his pocket and fiddled with his ring. "About a month ago."

"A month... that's right after..."

"Uh yeah," Daniel called from the table, moving into the conversation he'd been listening to. "You think you're surprised, General... imagine Teal'c and I meeting them at the cabin for a fishing trip and they casually take us into town for a wedding..."

"Well, you know how bad Carter is at engagements, so we just kinda decided to skip that part," Jack said with a shrug, earning himself a sharp poke in the ribs from Sam for the remark. It was true, but still. No need to bring _that _up.

Hammond laughed and said, "Well... I'm happy for you. I really am. But if it's not too late, one _more _piece of advice..."

"Sure, let's hear it, George."

"At least wait a while on kids, huh? A year or so... I mean, I would think that would be obvious with you working in different cities, but if you've already gone off and got married..."

They laughed somewhat nervously and Hammond continued. "Oh, before you leave, Colonel. If you're not too uncomfortable with it, I'd like to introduce you to Colonel Tanner... he worked with us when I worked with your father and he wants to pay his respects."

Sam blinked, trying to school her features, and nodded. "Of course, sir."

Jack squeezed her shoulder but she covered his hand with hers briefly and said, "I'll be fine."

Hammond led her away, and Jack sat down heavily next to Daniel and Teal'c, resisting the urge to loosen his tie.

"So..." Daniel started after a few moments.

"I guess Hammond's right," Jack said quietly to himself.

"Well... yes, it makes sense to... wait, you haven't been..."

"O'Neill, you did not tell us you and Colonel Carter are trying to procreate," Teal'c said.

"Gee, Teal'c, you make it sound so clinical and romantic at the same time," he said sarcastically. "I mean, we're not that young... well, I'm not at least, and for a first baby apparently she's not either, so... Last time she was, you know, we kind of... did. Tried. Whatever."

"What exactly..." Daniel started out of curiosity before he could stop himself.

"There's a thing with a pillow, and you..." Jack started.

Daniel made a terrible face and begged him to stop. "Please, please, I don't want to know."

"You asked," Jack reminded him, amused.

"Yeah but I didn't mean to!"

"Anyway, it didn't work," Jack said, somewhat sulky despite the fact that Hammond was right.

Sam came back over looking rather subdued from her conversation, but she smiled brightly at all of them. "Ready to go?" she asked.

"We're going to hang out here for a while, actually," Daniel said, surprising her.

Sam was also surprised at the fact that Daniel looked like he'd taken some nasty liquid medicine. "Oh. Okay. Well, let's go find Cassie and..."

"Cassandra wishes to remain with us as well," Teal'c interrupted. "We shall ensure her safe return."

"Are you sure, I mean..."

Jack grinned and said, "Let's have one more dance for the road."

Surprised, because he hated to dance, she agreed, figuring he was trying to cheer her up after meeting the man who knew her father. "When did Teal'c and Daniel turn into such party animals?" Sam asked halfway through the song.

"I think they're just trying to give us some… space."

"But they're going back to Colorado on Sunday, and we'll miss them."

"Yes. But I'm not sure they're going to miss us as much. I think we may have even succeeded in making Teal'c nauseous, in addition to Cassie and Daniel. Which I wasn't even sure was possible with the Tretonin."

"Are we that bad?"

Cassie danced past them with General Hammond and both of them said loudly, "Yes!"

The end.


End file.
